Instagram Branding Mistakes You’re Making and What To Do Instead

By Kasi September 14, 2018

Instagram Branding Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Instagram seems to be a real head scratcher for many brands. If you scour the platform you will find very few brands doing it well. They just aren’t sure what to do when it comes to this picture sharing platform. We get it. It’s hard to get all artsy fartsy when you’re peddling toilet bowl cleaner, but don’t get intimidated. Instagram is a social media platform like any other. Posts can be just as fun here as they are other places. Your toilet bowl cleaner doesn’t have to be poised on a mountain top, doing a yoga pose at sunset. (although that’s not bad actually) We go over some common mistakes that may be hindering you from creating an effective account.

Keep it consistent when it comes to your Instagram brand. Use similar lighting, color tones and filters for all of your posts. This means that users can recognize your visual brand right away when scrolling through their feed. This is also a way to make sure that your branding stays consistent. For example, a children’s clothing brand is probably going to be using vibrant colors featuring an abundance of kids smiling and playing. If they randomly posted a nighttime landscape, devoid of children, the user probably wouldn’t know who they were and would just keep scrolling. Not to mention seriously confuse the user.

The one link rule can throw a lot of people off when they think about driving traffic and crafting posts. It doesn’t have to hold you back. Just make sure your website content is fresh, update your link often and don’t let it bog you down.

Don’t get stuck in a rut. We see plenty of Instagram brands post twenty pictures of mountain tops with quotes, only to become inactive a short while later. Post beautiful pictures, post funny pictures, whatever you post make sure that it’s eye catching and relevant. The 5:3:2 rule applies here just as it does on every other platform.

Remain credible. Don’t follow more accounts than are following you, or at least not many more. Users are savvy, and they will notice. They want to see that your Instagram brand is attracting users based on your mind-blowing content and not out there desperately following every account hoping they’ll follow you back. Don’t be thirsty. Act like you’ve been there.

We’re still amazed by how many companies are not using Instagram as part of their social strategy. If you’re trying to reach a younger demographic, Instagram is where you want to be. This valuable platform can kick your social media marketing up to the next level, and we’re here to help.